Week 5 The spirit of Ireland The Emerald Isle 1 Completa gli spazi coniugando al Past Simple i verbi tra parentesi. A lot of tourists visit Ireland every year, because The Emerald Isle (as it is also known for its green countryside) offers historical places, lively cities, amazing natural scenery and friendly people. Ireland (1) (have) a troubled history in its past, due to famines, the conflict to obtain independence from Britain and the civil war inside the Ulster counties between Catholics and Protestants in more recent years. Now Irish people are living during a period of peace but their country is divided into two parts: the south is the Republic of Ireland (or Eire) with its capital Dublin, while Northern Ireland (or Ulster) is part of the United Kingdom and its capital is Belfast. A symbol of Ireland The shamrock is a three-leaved plant and is the symbol of Ireland. The tradition says that St. Patrick (2) (use) it to explain the doctrine of the Christian Trinity. The patron Saint of Ireland (3) (come) to this land in 432 A.D. and (4) (convert) a lot of Irish people to Christianity. In the 18th century the shamrock (5) (become) the symbol of the th country. On 17 March St. Patrick s Day Irish people celebrate all over the world, singing, dancing, wearing green clothes and shamrocks on their lapels! Irish language When you visit Ireland for the first time, you may be surprised to see signs, road-signs and place names written in two languages: English and Irish Gaelic. The latter is the national and first official language of Eire and is taught at school together with English. In fact, Gaelic (6) (be) the predominant language of the Irish from the 4th th century A.D. until the 19 century. In this century, it (7) (begin) to decline under English rule and it (8) (lose) a large number of speakers after The Great Famine (1845-1852) when a lot of Irish emigrated or (9) (die) of hunger. 44